The millennial apple tree
Why some of us millennials find it hard to pick the right career
According to Taylor Swift, being a 22 year-old millennial can make you feel happy, free, confused, and lonely.
Yes, Taylor is right. These mixed emotions are mostly the result of the uncertain crossroad where millennials find themselves at. Let me explain this by using an apple metaphor.
The apple tree
As a millennial at the end of your studies, you are like a happy, free, confused, and lonely apple in an apple tree. You didn’t choose the apple tree, you were put there by circumstances (e.g. your parents, society, and your environment). The apple tree has made you who you are. During your time in the apple tree, you have been nurtured and cared for. You have been told that at one point you will have to fall from the tree (but don’t fall too far from the tree). As millennials, we now find ourselves at the verge of falling and we are unsure what’s going to happen next. What will the fall be like? Will I grow into a new apple tree? Will I go into a crate to another country? Or will I rot away down here, right under this f*cking apple tree? This is a dubious and harsh metaphor. But then again, so is the feeling that some of us millennials are experiencing when we look at our future careers.
What causes us to feel like this? Most millennials are exposed to extremes. Every time we open Instagram, we see images of extremely beautiful and successful people. If we are continuously bombarded with extreme instances of success, how can we be satisfied with our own, less extreme jobs? Moreover, we grew up in an age where anything is possible. If anything is possible, how do we make the right choice? A lot has been written on where to work, on how to work, on how to work at work, on how work should work at work, and more stuff like that. I’m just another apple writing about this stuff, on an Apple. But hear me out, this may be a golden apple.
Whenever you search for a job, you should be looking for GIF’s. If your current job doesn’t involve GIF’s of Taylor, or GIF’s in general, don’t worry. This GIF is really something else.
GIF: Growth. Impact. Fun.
Growth
In most instances, the apple tree has taught us the basics of where we should fall. Most likely, the apple tree told us to fall close to where the tree is, to where the money is, or to where our passion lies. Even though it would be wise to take all of the above into consideration, it is even wiser to fall at a different place. Namely, a place where you can keep rolling, keep learning, and keep growing. Growth may range from growth in your career, to technical growth, to emotional growth. Millennials need to be triggered and challenged to grow more than any generation before them. Why? We become bored, distracted, and disengaged when we feel that our work is routine and repetitive. Opportunities for growth are key to keep our jobs challenging and interesting.
Impact
In many cases, a large chunk of your apple tree may have told you that the main purpose of work is about paying your bills. However, most of us millennials have adopted a different view of work compared to the generations before us. This is due to multiple reasons, one of them being that our apple trees had wifi built-in. Wifi allowed us to watch videos, play games, and learn from people from all over the world. Millennials have seen how big the world is. More importantly, we’ve seen how intangible this big world can be. The solution to making our big world more tangible is to make a visible impact at your work. It’s about making your work be about more than just paying the bills.
“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives”
— Jackie Robinson
Fun
The apple tree has spoiled us with video-games, series, social media, Taylor’s song ‘Shake it off’, and nearly all else that our hearts desire. We have continuously been fed with means of instant gratification. These means of instant gratification (e.g. games and social media) are programmed to be as fun and gratifying as possible. Therefore, the alternative to working is quite fun and gratifying. Our work should ideally be more gratifying and fun than our alternatives. Surely, there are countless ways of making work more gratifying. However, the easiest solution is to make work more fun. Some jobs are fun and some jobs need to be made fun. You need to find out what your definition of fun is. If your job is no fun and can’t be made fun, shake it off, shake it off.
The end
Okay so what did I read in this article? Millennials are apples, who are either about to fall, in the process of falling, or already fell from the apple tree into their careers. The key is to fall in the right place. Falling in the right place is threefold. Firstly, you have to fall somewhere where you can keep on rolling. Secondly, you need to fall somewhere where your landing actually has a visible impact on the ground. And thirdly, you have to fall somewhere where you will have fun.
Thanks for checking out my first blogpost, let me know if you have any feedback!
P.S.
If you are into software engineering or marketing, check out https://www.blueharvest.io/careers these guys are also recruiting falling apples :)
